(1) Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with a machine for lasting heel seat portions of shoes. The word shoe, where used herein, is used generically as indicating articles of outer footwear generally, and as including such article in the course of its manufacture.
(2) Prior Art
There is described in our co-pending U.K. Patent Application Ser. No. 8020133 a machine for lasting heel seat portions of shoes, comprising a shoe support for supporting, bottom uppermost, a shoe comprising an upper carried on a last and an insole held against the last bottom, a heel band for clampingly engaging the heel end of a shoe supported by the shoe support, a wiper assembly for causing lasting marginal portions of the upper, at the heel seat region thereof, to be wiped over and pressed against corresponding marginal portions of the insole--said assembly comprising two wiper plates, first drive means for effecting movement of the wiper plates relative to the shoe bottom in a direction extending lengthwise of the shoe bottom, and cam means for effecting inwiping movement of the wiper plates, as lengthwise movement thereof is effected as aforesaid--and fastener inserting means by which, while the lasting marginal portions of the upper are being pressed against corresponding marginal portions of the insole as aforesaid, fasteners can be driven, through apertures formed in the wiper plates, adjacent leading edge portions of each thereof, thus to secure said marginal portions together, the machine also comprising second drive means for moving the heel band relative to the shoe support in a direction extending lengthwise of the shoe bottom.
In said machine, furthermore, the lengthwise movement of the wiper plates, in effecting a wiping operation, is limited by varying the position of one abutment member in relation to a co-operating abutment member, adjustment or control means being provided by which the operator can set the position to which the wiper plates are moved by the first drive means (constituting a fastener inserting position). By thus providing a facility for terminating the operation of the first drive means, the nail pattern provided by the wiper plates is readily adjusted, by a single adjustment, according to the contour of the shoe bottom to be operated upon.
In using the machine, furthermore, it has been found that, in certain instances, over a size range it is necessary merely to set the nail pattern according to the width of the shoe bottom in the vicinity of the leading edge of the wiper plates (the so-called "front tack" locality). Such setting, however, because it is dependent upon the lengthwise movement of the wiper plates, thus affects the position of the so-called back tacks, i.e. the tacks driven into the shoe bottom in the vicinity of the back seam region thereof. While it was considered, in the aforementioned specification, that variation in the "back tack" position by the setting of the nail pattern was acceptable, nevertheless it was also envisaged that in certain circumstances adjustment of the heel band position in relation to the wipers in a direction extending lengthwise of the shoe bottom would be desirable, and to this end the second drive means was operable under the control of the operator, for effecting adjusting movement of the heel band in this manner.
The provision of two separate adjustment means, however, for achieving adjustment of the nail pattern and adjustment of the heel band position is still considered time-consuming, and it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an improved heel seat lasing machine in which variation of the nail pattern, by adjusting the fastener inserting position of the wiper plates, does not upset the relationship between the back seam region of the heel band and a corresponding region of the wiper plates.